According to the Janata Party chief, poverty cannot be the criteria for giving quotas as per the government rules and for this reason, Brahmins, Muslims and Christians, who are poor, cannot qualify for quotas

New Delhi: Janata Party chief Dr Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday condemned the government's decision to challenge the Andhra Pradesh High Court order quashing the proposed 4.5% reservation to minorities within the other backward class (OBC) quota, reports PTI.

"I condemn the decision of the Union government to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court against the order of the AP High Court quashing quotas for minorities proposed by government," Dr Swamy said in a statement.

Dr Swamy said quotas for backward classes are only for those who were never ruling classes in India whereas under the government's proposal they are being extended to classes which have no socially imposed disabilities.

"Poverty, therefore, cannot be the criteria for giving quotas. For this reason, Brahmins who are poor cannot qualify for quotas. So, too Muslims and Christians since they had been ruling classes for centuries," he said in the statement.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid has said the High Court order on minority sub-quota is not a setback to the Centre which has decided to challenge it in the Supreme Court.

The government proposes to create a 4.5% sub-quota for notified minority groups out of the 27% reservation meant for OBCs.

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ashok sen

5 years ago

I am an OBC
Our parents were living , brothers,sisters, children,a total of 14 people in 2 small rooms, 60 years back, when they came to kolkata from the village,where they cultivated some land..
I was 5 years old at that time.Father was a graduate, and went to work in Pune in 1947, and returned to kolkata.in 1950
He said to never, never seek privileges.If you study diligently,work hard,you will not want in life.
Today, that family,with wise counsel,and Gods grace has grown to maybe 80 persons.We have all done well - engineers, doctors,sportsmen, e.t.c.
Why dont the politicians leave us alone.With the increasing opportunities, we Indians will all do well,and with education, people today, more often then not, dont care a damn for caste, sub caste, e.t.c.
Because of the wide exposure, and we all being Indians, in our families , we have marriages with malyalees, gujaratis, sardars,white americans, japanese, e.t.c.We are not Bengalis anymore.
We seek guidance from social reformers on how to get rid of the self seeking politicians from our midst. - the people who are retarding our nations growth.

Java

5 years ago

By the "ruling classes" criterion, many of the so called backward classes would have been out of quota. Leaving aside the Nawabs and Muslim feudal lords, most of India's real rulers - rajahs and super-rich landlords were and are the descendants of Yadavs, Jats, Pallavas, Pandians, Cholas, Chettiars, Scindias, Gaekwars, Bhosales etc. etc. and have all been classified as OBCs or backward castes in our great country. The REAL issue is political power of the group, not a manufactured historical injustice, which is only a decoy used to shut off any challenge to the hegemony of the powerful.

POSCO has completed construction of its first steel plant, a 0.45 million tonne per annum continuous galvanised line facility in Maharashtra even as the steel company is awaiting clearances for its $12 billion plant in Orissa

New Delhi: Still awaiting clearances to begin work on its much-hyped $12 billion project in Orissa, South Korean steel major POSCO has completed construction of its first steel mill in India at a cost of $240 million.

"POSCO has completed construction of its first steel plant in India -- a 0.45 million tonne per annum continuous galvanised line (CVL) facility at Maharashtra," a company official, who did not wish to be quoted, told PTI.

"The facility was inaugurated by Posco-India chairman and managing director Yong-Won Yoon yesterday and a brief test run was done. It will be fully operationalised as soon as a minor clearance, which is pending, is given by the state government," the official added.

The project entailed a total investment of $240 million (about Rs1,339.35 crore), the official said adding the hot galvanised plate facility would cater to the high-end galvanised coil needs of automakers in and around Pune besides those of home appliances.

The world's fourth largest steelmaker is set to start production any day and supply products to automakers in Pune.

Maharashtra is home to a host of automobile plants including that of Volkswagen, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, General Motor, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Skoda, Premier Auto and Bajaj Auto.

POSCO has also plans to set up an electric steel plate facility and a cold-rolled mill in Maharashtra.

About much-hyped $12 billion ( around Rs52,000 crore) plant at Jagatsingpur in Orissa, the official said work would begin on the project soon after the state government hands over the required land.

In a setback to Posco's Orissa project, the country's single largest foreign direct investment (FDI), the National Green Tribunal on 30th March had suspended the green clearance granted on 31 January 2011 to the much-awaited project. The tribual directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to review afresh the clearance.

The Tribunal pointed out that memorandum of understanding between the Orissa government and Posco states that the project is for steel production of 12 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) but the environment impact assessment (EIA) report has been prepared only for 4 MTPA in the first phase.

The Tribunal decision came close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assuring South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Seoul earlier this year that the project will be implemented and there was progress on it.

The steel plant, proposed at Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa, is hanging fire for over six years now due to land acquisition hurdles. It requires 4,004 acres of land for it.

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sandeep

5 years ago

This news was published by business standard on the same day 29th may @ 5.01 pm

and moneylife digital team just copied it and posted as it is . The link for Business standards news is given below.

does the criteria applies to all the news published by moneylife before this .

MDT

In Reply to sandeep5 years ago

Dear Sandeep,
Thanks for posting your comment. Above news is taken from PTI just like every other media. This is not an exclusive news of BS or Moneylife, and we have clearly mentioned it in the copy. Also, the same news appeared in ET and other medias but you just wanted to point a finger at Moneylife that too when we are also a paid subscriber of PTI, like other media. Hope you understand the difference between an exclusive story and stories from newswires.
Thanks again,
Moneylife Digital Team

This is a slip and we should have got it right. Many thanks for pointing this out. The person concerned has been pulled up for the lapse!
MDT

Residents of Financial Action Task Force member countries, Gulf Cooperation Council and European Commission will also be considered as qualified foreign investors

New Delhi: In order to attract foreign funds, the Indian government on Tuesday allowed individual overseas investors also called Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) to invest up to $1 billion in debts and corporate bond market, reports PTI.

The government also expanded the ambit of QFIs to include residents of FATF (Financial Action Task Force) member countries and those from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and European Commission (EC).

"A separate sub-limit of $1 billion has been created for QFI investment in corporate bonds and mutual fund debt schemes," a Finance Ministry official said.

As of now, foreign investors were allowed to invest $20 billion in the country's corporate bond market. With this the ceiling will increase to $21 billion.

"We are looking at 6-14 months to see the optimisation of QFI inflows," Thomas Mathew, Joint Secretary (Capital Market Division) in the ministry said.